Sunday, June 26, 2011

The Missing Piece

Some publishing experts estimate there are over a million book ideas in circulation at various publishing houses and literary agencies. From the ever-growing volume of submissions and pitches, I believe those numbers. Yet don’t let those numbers overwhelm you because I believe with training, you can make your story or book idea or book proposal stand apart from the competition. It must be excellent and you must take active steps to learn how to make it stand apart from the others.

Book authors are focused on a longer piece of writing and it takes a great deal of energy and time to produce such an excellent work. I want to tell you about an area that many writers neglect and miss: the printed magazine market.

Yes, a number of magazines have disappeared in recent years yet new publications are constantly entering the marketplace. If you look at it with the right mindset that change can present great opportunity for you and your writing.

Printed magazine articles hold writers to a high standard for their writing yet you can learn the craft of storytelling in a shorter form than a 60,000 word nonfiction book or a 100,000 word novel. Also you will learn how to target a particular audience for a particular audience.

My magazine writing has reached many more readers than my books will ever reach. In one short magazine article, it is easy to touch 100,000 or 300,000 readers. In sharp contrast, the Authors Guild says that it is good if a book sells 5,000 copies in the LIFE of the book. These numbers point out the limitations of most book publishing. Yes, it is a printed book and lasting but limited.

In the writing world, you don’t have to be limited to writing only book or only magazine articles. You can do both. The world of magazine writing will expose new readers to your work. If you feel stuck or stifled with your book writing, open a new door of opportunity and write a few query letters or magazine articles. It might just be your missing piece.